You could say that the closest Arsenal have come to winning the English Premier League in recent years, or even since we last won it in 2005 having gone the entire season without a league defeat, was a couple of years ago when the Gunners finished as runners-up to shock champions Leicester City instead of the usual fourth place.
I would argue, however, that we never really looked like taking the EPL trophy that year after slumping badly from being top at the turn of the year. Only Tottenham taking their eye off the ball once the Foxes had won it allowed Arsenal to leapfrog them.
For me the closest we have come to the title was in 2013-14. Arsenal spent more time than any of our EPL rivals on top of the table and had it not been for unlucky injury blows to big players at key periods of the campaign I reckon we would have done it.
The biggest blow of all that season was losing Aaron Ramsey on Boxing Day which caused him to miss about three months. The Welshman had been on fire up to that point with lots of great goals capping his fine form and he also came back strong and scored the FA cup winner in extra time.
Even missing all that time the midfielder notched up 16 goals and I think would have steered us to the title, but he has not quite hit those heights again, sometimes trying too hard to score instead of doing what comes naturally. Another strong season from Rambo could play a huge part in an Arsenal title challenge so to see him score a very well taken goal in pre-season on Saturday was very encouraging for Gooners everywhere.
Will Ramsey have another goal-laden year and if so will it help Arsenal to a major trophy or two?
sam P.